It is a great delight to be back at the House of Commons for this event co-hosted by GBCC and APPCG to talk about the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

很荣幸再次到访英国议会，特别是非常高兴出席英中协会在这里举办的中共十九大精神宣介会。

For the past weeks, I have been busy sharing information with my British friends about this epoch-making Congress. I published articles on newspapers and delivered a few speeches. And I was on ITV’s “Peston on Sunday”. I want to get more people to know why this Congress is significant to both China and the world. I hope to elaborate on China’s new thinking, new blueprint and new measures for further development.

I was honoured to have attended the Congress in Beijing in person. And I feel equally honoured to be here today to share my thoughts and observations with the British Peers and Members of Parliament.

Today, I am going to deliver a speech first, then we get down to further discussion. I completely agree with Sir Oliver’s suggestion that I shall leave more time for questions. I know you have come with a lot.

So despite of the golden rule of 70 per cent speech and 30 per cent Q&A, today I am going to turn this around by leaving 70 per cent of the time to Q&A. Please feel free to raise any question you may have. I promise I will leave no question unanswered.

Now, let me begin with the core message of the Congress. This is: socialism with Chinese characteristics is entering into a new era.

What does the new era mean? I think there are at least five implications.

习近平总书记在十九大报告中做出了“中国特色社会主义进入新时代”的重大判断，那么这个新时代到底意味着什么呢？

First, China is at a new historic juncture.

To know where the future lies, you must first know where you are. The 19th Congress sets the direction for China’s development in the coming years.

After nearly four decades of reform, opening-up and rapid growth, the principal contradiction facing the Chinese society has evolved. And so has our main task. According to the Congress, China’s main task now is to address the imbalances and inadequacies in our development in order to meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.

Recognizing this change is highly significant. This will determine what policies and overall strategies China will adopt. China continues to push for development. But we will target the imbalances and inadequacies in our development. This means we want higher-quality growth and we want more efficient growth. We want to meet our people’s needs for a better life in all respects. This includes economic, political, cultural, social and eco-environmental needs. We want well-rounded development for every individual and social progress in all respects.

The new theoretical guidance of our Party is Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era. This was established at the 19th Congress. It answers the fundamental question of how to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. It consists of strategic plans for our work in 17 areas, including the economy, politics, rule of law, science and technology, culture, education, people’s welfare, ecology, national defense, diplomacy, party building, etc.

This is a new milestone in the evolution of theoretical thoughts of the Communist Party of China. Xi Jinping Thought is a system of scientific and comprehensive theory. It is the result of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. It represents our latest efforts in theoretical exploration and creation. It is the political and ideological guarantee for building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

These objectives unveil an exciting future and give us great confidence.

The five years between now and the next National Congress are crucial. It is a period in which the time-frames of China’s “two centenary goals” converge.

The first centenary goal is complete the building of a moderately prosperous society. This will have been delivered by 2020 before the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.

Then it will be time to move on to the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country when the People’s Republic marks its 100th anniversary.

This will be achieved in two steps from 2020 to 2050, with 15 years for each step, namely, realizing socialist modernization by 2035, and building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of this century.

This new blueprint marks out the important signposts for our journey ahead. It demonstrates the Chinese people’s strong confidence in their country’s future development.

Big accomplishments always require overall planning. The 19th Congress has made overall plans for China in line with the “five-sphere integrated plan” and the “four-pronged comprehensive strategy”. These are new and comprehensive plans. They cover the economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental fields as well as party building.

China will carry out deeper and more comprehensive reforms to modernize its governance system and capability.

China will implement the new development concepts and aim at sustainable and healthy growth. This will be achieved by building a modern economy and improving the quality and efficiency of growth.

China will pursue a rural vitalization strategy, implement a coordinated regional development strategy and carry out the Healthy China initiative.

China will take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and prevent and control pollution.

And I want to stress that China will stay open to the world. We will only open wider. Here, the Belt and Road will be a priority. In developing this major initiative, we will strive for shared growth through discussion and collaboration with partners. And we will open wider to the world in building up our innovation capacity. With these efforts, we hope to break new ground in opening China further through links in all directions, across land and over sea.

A great cause calls for strong and firm leadership. The 19th Congress elected a new CPC central leadership. The new Central Committee and Political Bureau are strong and vigorous with political integrity and professional competence. This goes to show the CPC’s strong vitality and cohesion. This also goes to show that China’s causes are booming.

The CPC will continue to work hard to secure a sweeping victory in the fight against corruption. As the saying goes, it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel. Anti-corruption is key to ensuring strict Party self-governance.

Now, the 1.3 billion Chinese people are rallying around the new central leadership with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core. I have every confidence that China is in good hands, and we are well on our way to achieve the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

I noted that many people here in Britain, the media in particular, are following China’s foreign policy closely to understand how it will unfold in the new era. Some media reports are fairly objective and positive while others are based on misperceptions. Let me use this opportunity to share my take.

The Congress lays out China’s two major diplomatic visions. One is to build a new type of international relations. The other is to build a community of shared future for mankind. They answer two questions:

China envisions a new type of international relationship, which has three salient features, namely, mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation. These three elements are inter-connected and mutually-reinforcing. Together they give us a complete picture of the new type of international relations. Let me go through them one by one.

中国致力于推动建设相互尊重、公平正义、合作共赢的新型国际关系，这三者紧密联系，相辅相成，是一个有机系统的整体。

First, mutual respect. This is the basis for the new type of international relations.

The world today is undergoing major developments, transformation, and adjustment. In this context, all countries should follow the trend of the times, which is peace and development. Therefore, countries must respect each other’s independent right to choose their own social system and development path. Countries must respect each other’s core interests and major concerns. And countries should try to learn from each other in order to stimulate progress and common development.

Second, fairness and justice. This is the norm of the new type of international relations.

China attaches fundamental importance to fairness, justice, rule of law and order. We believe that all countries are equal regardless of size. We always take position on an issue based on its own merits. We resolutely reject the cold-war mentality and call on all countries to do the same. We stand for a new thinking on common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security.

Third, win-win cooperation. This is the objective of the new type of international relations.

The ideas of “zero-sum game” or “winner takes it all” are outdated and should be abandoned. They should be replaced with a new way of thinking, namely, making the pie bigger so that everyone gets a larger share. Cooperation should aim at mutual benefits.

Our world is an integrated and interconnected world. That is the right way to approach state-to-state relations. Countries certainly must uphold their own national interests. But they should not lose sight of the common interests of humanity. After all, despite differences in social system, development path and cultural heritage, we have only one world to share and we should share it in peace and harmony.

Now, let me turn to China’s other vision, namely, building a community of shared future for mankind. This concept is about building an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

In the political dimension, the community of shared future advocates mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing. It calls for a new approach to state-to-state relations based on communication rather than confrontation, partnership rather than alliance.

In the security dimension, the community of shared future advocates settling disputes through dialogue, resolving differences through discussion, and joint response to traditional and non-traditional threats.

In the economic dimension, the community of shared future advocates trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and economic globalization that is more open, inclusive and balanced and whose benefits are shared by all. In short, we are all in the same boat.

In the cultural dimension, the community of shared future advocates respect for cultural diversity, mutual learning and inclusive development.

In the ecological dimension, the community of shared future advocates the idea of a home for all.

This calls on countries to build an environment-friendly society and work with each other to tackle climate change.

I believe that as China moves closer to the centre stage, we will be able to share with the world more of China’s wisdom, China’s solution and China’s experience. We will bring more positive energy into the world and we will create new development opportunities for other countries.